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Former altar boy supervisor denies sexual abuse charges

BOSTON (AP) — A 79-year-old man who at one time supervised altar boys as a layman at a parish in Boston’s Dorchester section denied charges that he sexually abused a young boy beginning in the late 1980s.

Michael Walsh pleaded not guilty Wednesday in Suffolk Superior Court to two counts of child rape and three counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under age 14.

Prosecutors allege that Walsh abused a young boy who’s now 38 years old between September 1988 and June 1991.

Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Ashley Polin says Walsh used his role at St. Brendan Parish and his position as youth baseball coach to “gain access to, groom and ultimately sexually assault the victim.”

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston declined to comment on the allegations against Walsh.

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